The Tories always hold the view that the state is an apparatus for the protection of the swag of the property owners … Christ drove the money changers out of the temple, but you inscribe their title deed on the altar cloth.
There is only one hope for mankind – and that is democratic Socialism.
“That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were.”
So your suggesting and imposed ideaology their Ed, democracy as long as it socialism, yep that will work Just like Hong Kong and Russian democracy, you can vote as long as you vote how you are told
Whereas in the US it doesn't matter if you vote or not; the district you vote in can be so gerrymandered that you will end up with a Repugnant congress rep. no matter what.
I think Ed is talking about Nz, so who is arguing for gerrymandering albeit while not perfect ( what democracy is) I think US democracy and political freedom is slightly ahead of China, Hong Kong and Russia
This guy was around in the 50 60s unfortunately not the 70s to see what the glories of socialism inflicted on the Uk His thinking and experiences was 19th early 20th century Britain and so are his solutions, hardly relevant today based on old world problems with old world solutions, not to mention they ended up in abject failure with Britain pretty rooted by 1970 and only saved by Maggie Thatcher liberal conservatism and a lot smarter Tory party than they have masquerading as such today, albeit still better than the alternative crazy Corbynestas Party
Beg to disagree after living in Britain for many years, for all Britain is ;now it’s streets ahead of the dour, strike ridden closed for business 1970s, as is nz to that point Your logic falls over by not factoring in what Britain or nz would be today if it carried on the same path it was on, not contrasting some rose tinted view of what life use to be like
Still avoiding the question KJT , it is not so much your nostalgic view of 1970s Nz ( I am sure it was nice albeit boring and very little choice of anything) or now what happens on the boundaries of Nz but more so where nz would be if we carried on with same policy setting once Britain decided we were not their farm and would no longer fund our lifestyle
Interesting right wing propaganda spin, but wrong.
Much of our "lifestyle" was funded by internal production.
It could be argued that no longer having to produce commodities, to fund importing shoddy British manufactured goods, sound familiar, would have improved our lifestyle. But we will never know, as Neo -liberal Governments not only changed the bath water, which needed doing, but they also threw out the baby, the bath, and sold the house.
History tells us Thatcher was a cold, cowardly, loveless piece of shit who pitted the workers of GB against each other to further her political agenda, too.
Ash Sarkar is "sassy", you say. If that word now means "cowardly, craven, ready to recycle vicious government lies", then you are correct.
On the other hand, if the meaning of the word remains what it has always meant, then your descriptor for her is utterly inappropriate.
Ostensibly ‘alternative’ Novara Media’s Ash Sarkar – who has published numerous opinion pieces in the Guardian and Independent, and who is a favoured guest on flagship BBC shows like Daily Politics, Question Time, the Andrew Marr Show and Newsnight – tweeted:
‘Just sayin’ it’s possible to think that Julian Assange is a definite creep, a probable rapist, a conspiracist whackjob *and* that his arrest has incredibly worrying implications for the treatment of those who blow the whistle on gross abuses of state power.’
Sarkar revealed the depth of her knowledge when she wrote:
‘His arrest today came *after* the investigations into rape and the Swedish arrest warrant were dropped.
‘That doesn’t mean he’s innocent of those charges.’
Anyone who knows anything about Assange knows that he has never been charged. But Sarkar’s damning comments on a leading truth-teller facing the wrath of the US state, play extremely well with the ‘mainstream’ gatekeepers selecting BBC guests and Guardian contributors. Sarkar deleted the tweet smearing Assange, not because she regretted her appalling comments, but because ‘ugly stuff defending sexual assault itself has been turning up in my work inbox’ from ‘men’.
‘Just sayin’ it’s possible to think that Julian Assange is a definite creep, a probable rapist, a conspiracist whackjob *and* that his arrest has incredibly worrying implications for the treatment of those who blow the whistle on gross abuses of state power.’
That statement is clearly and objectively true, so it's not obvious where you're drawing the descriptors "cowardly, craven and vicious" from, other than unsavory corners of your own id.
It's a clue that she may not agree with Morrissey on the subject, nothing more. "Disagrees with Morrissey" is not a synonym for "cowardice" or "dishonesty."
"Disagrees with Morrissey" is not a synonym for "cowardice" or "dishonesty."
That's true, Milt. What makes her a liar and a coward is not that she might disagree with me, or with Julian Assange himself. What makes her a coward and a liar is her recycling of vicious government-sponsored lies about Julian Assange.
"Vicious government-sponsored lies" is your opinion, and you're calling her a coward and liar because she may (it's not clear from the tweet) disagree with that opinion.
It helps if you don't start from the position that your opinions are objective facts – many logic fails can be avoided by that one simple technique.
"Vicious government-sponsored lies" is your opinion,
It's a reasoned opinion; unlike Sarkar with her brutal recycling of smears she's read in the Grauniad and heard on British State/Murdoch broadcasting, I actually care about the truthfulness and the effect of my words.
and you're calling her a coward and liar because she may (it's not clear from the tweet) disagree with that opinion.
If she disagrees with it—which, considering she otherwise presents as an intelligent and critical thinker, she no doubt does—then why did she repeat those disgusting smears? The only possible reason, presuming that she is a rational person who is skeptical of the British government's machinations, is that she was afraid of stating outright what the facts of the matter are, i.e., that Assange is in captivity because he is indeed a journalist who exposed massive crimes by the institutions trying to destroy him.
If you did actually care about the truthfulness and effectiveness of your words, you wouldn't continually present your personal opinions (eg "brutal recycling of smears", "disgusting smears") as facts.
Okay, she recycled the smears in a caring fashion, and the smears were actually quite classy, and as unimpeachable and rigorous as that Christchurch police case against Peter Ellis.
Still leaves her looking rather cowardly, however.
"President Trump’s approval rating has risen to the highest point of his presidency" according to the latest ABC News / Washinton Post poll – but the polling finished July 1st, so it doesn't endorse his claim that the American revolutionary army took over airports in 1775 (134 years before the first airport was built).
He could be competing for an honorary degree in historical revisionism, eh? Historical revisionists are normally leftist academics, of the anti-imperial persuasion, so pitching for their vote at the military rally on July 4th could be seen as a recruiting move to get more patriots on board.
And "the survey shows a clear majority of Americans continue to oppose impeachment proceedings. The new poll finds 59 percent of Americans saying the House should not begin such proceedings".
Dennis, do you think his "base"—whatever that actually is—cares or even understands that he spouted that ridiculous anachronism? After all, many of them think the world is just a tad over 6,000 years old, and that the moon landing was a hoax.
Yeah Morrisey, much of his base is permanently out to lunch. Those that are true conservatives yet educated and erudite are always the rightists with the most leverage on the right of centre. The ones you refer to are vastly greater in number in the USA, yet they are merely voters.
The ones to watch are the opinion leaders in the establishment (traditionally more right than left, yet a mix). Such people support Trump when he's useful, but are likely to withdraw that support when he becomes a liability.
I've done some background reading on the guy to ascertain his potential for a second term. His style has always been outrageous – deliberately so. The question of mental illness is the hinge. We can't predict how that may trend. Others may be better placed than me to opine on trajectories of dementia…
I'm thinking come 2020, the Left will scrape/glide in for a second term, but that voter turn out will remain abysmal, and we'll still be pontificating as to why that is whilst preparing for a 2023 defeat, still unable to actually get our shit together.
This morning's Nine2Noon/from the Right, and from the Left (with Mills rather than the slightly-less-from-the-Right Williams) was QI. Some valid points "On Both Sides, On BOTH sides….. tremendous, phenomenal, etc).
Bloody shame Jonathan Boston's team came up with a few ideas AFTER the election, alongside a few others that have been banging their heads against brick walls for the past few years. Although I understand why they couldn't. Although we could have had another one of those committee things, perhaps given it the acronym CAMEL and staffed it with a load of Horse riders fresh from a UK fox hunt, and parachuted in for the task. They could even give us a few more linguistic platitudes for the pollywantacracker and departmental headhoncho to spout
And @ Dennis Frank (above or below – can't be fucked looking which right now), although you might be correct in suggesting targeting the 'middle' to win elections is the way to go, we shouldn't be pretending we'll solve issues and the plight of those at the edges, or indeed those who've given up on participating in our democracy as long as we do.
we shouldn't be pretending we'll solve issues and the plight of those at the edges, or indeed those who've given up on participating in our democracy as long as we do
It's an important point. I'd prefer you to view it with more optimism.
Whereas most centrists are simply there by default (unable to identify with left or right) a portion are principled and either opinion leaders or political activists. That is to say, they wield more influence as a group than their numbers suggest. Why? Because transcending polarity is both sophisticated thinking and a sign of intelligence.
Need it defeat ethics or conscience? Of course not! It's readily deployable alongside both, as a political stance. I'm not even slightly interested in resiling from support of GP policies, for instance. Doesn't mean to say I'm sufficiently stupid to insist they are implemented in coalition govt. All I ask is for the GP leadership to demonstrate a little more expertise…
Actually. I think it about time the geeks did have an election to nominate their leader and spokesperson.. Note the gender-neutral thing. Mankind – sorry – Personkind has a long way to go in achieving the ideal nomenclature.
Christchurch woman Gillian Kney, 73, who has arthritis and looks after her husband Franz, 78, who has Parkinson's disease and dementia, said being paid to care for Franz would make a huge difference.
"It would improve our standard of living. It would mean I didn't have to call on my daughter all the time, and she has a young family and owns a business and works six days a week, and she does a lot of work for us and I wish I could reciprocate in some way.
"The biggest bugbear of all is transport. At this point we don't have enough for taxis."
If I had to choose one advocate to get the ear of the Current Mob in order to effect a change in attitude towards poverty it would be Susan St. John from CPAG.
I'd have her on speed dial if I were the PM and truly desired Wellbeing for my people.
A cheap shot but it isn't entirely wrong – perhaps not a surplus but a sir-plus. As most of the triumph for the surplus is likely to come from males, and most of the angst about lack of money is likely with females.
On Natrad this morning was an interview with advocate Jane Carrigan who has been supporting Diane Moody and her significantly learning disabled son Shane Chamberlain through a couple of legal actions. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018703096/disability-care-funding-changes-give-false-hope-family-carers
Predictably, they are not impressed that yesterday's announcement regarding the much fought for fix of the stinking mess left by the Previous Incumbents of disability support services provided by family carers does not include an overhaul of the Needs Assessment process.
The Appeal Court judges had this to say…
Postscript[90]
We make two additional points. First, we note that this is the third occasion on which a dispute between the Ministry of Health and parents who care for disabled adult children has reached this Court. We hope that in the future parties to disputes over the nature and extent of funding eligibility are able to settle their differences without litigation.
Second, we have referred to our unease, which is shared by Palmer J, about the complexity of the statutory instruments governing funding eligibility for disability support services. They verge on the impenetrable, especially for a lay person, and have not been revised or updated to take into account the significant change brought about by pt 4A. We hope that the Ministry is able to find an effective means of streamlining the regime, thereby rendering it accessible for the people who need it most and those who care for them.
Some of us felt more than a little better that these august and intelligent fellows struggled to understand a system that has blighted the existence of disabled Kiwis and their families.
To say that some of us have a less than constructive relationship with our NASC (Needs Assessment and Service Coordination) office would be merely hinting at the frustration many of us have encountered.
Both Peter and myself have got off the phone from our NASC in tears.
The news reports this morning indicate that the agencies that government contracts out to, to implement its policies have considerable licence to interpret the law which can take its actions beyond the intention of the law, and that where the country is split between numerous contractors, there will be different approaches and judgments made about what entitlements caretakers are allocated.
That this happens to carers of disabled people was revealed while talking about the funding difficulties that carers are having in this mornings news.
This is one of the unchallengeable disadvantages of government not running systems directly, all this opening up to private operators in matters that relate to people's lives, only lengthens the chain of responsibility and makes it difficult to implement policies appropriately and with the balance of efficiency for cost and effectiveness of kindly and practical help that is justified by need, showing humanity.
I don't see agencies at a distance from government, doing a better job than Government Direct. That is a term I would expect to hear more about as a citizen and a voter!
Parents struggling to look after disabled family members say changes announced by the government on Sunday mean very little and just gives false hope.
"…of kindly and practical help that is justified by need, showing humanity. "
Some of us are way past the point of expecting humanity from our NASC. We'd be positively orgasmic if they gave even the slightest hint that they had a working knowledge of the different types of impairment and the appropriate type of hands on care required to meet an individual's core needs.
If any of them had ever asked "How can we help you?" I think we might have died of shock.
(I write in the past tense because the relationship between Peter and myself and our NASC has broken down beyond recovery.
Just as well they're not actually having to fund any care for him.)
The Greek election result highlight a real problem for those supporting a more radical leftist solution to politics. Populist Left wing parties tend to disappoint and fail to deliver the promised changes compared to populist right wing parties.
The winner: "Mitsotakis, a reformist ex-banker who has been at pains to modernise and revamp one of Europe’s most conservative parties since being elevated to its helm in January 2016. “Credit has to go to him and his strategy of opening up and moving the party towards the centre,” said Haris Theocharis, a candidate MP and former head of public revenues."
Yet more proof that centrism is the key to success. Will the slow learners in the GP leadership cabal get it this time? Unlikely.
You're in denial. Wanting sensible/intelligent leftist policies ought not handicap a party into marginalisation. People can walk & chew gum simultaneously, and it's up to politicians to demonstrate equivalent finesse.
The point is that success comes from learning what actually works in the real world. The lesson from how the radical left handled power in Greece does need to be learned. The lesson from Greek voters!
What happened" in the real world" was the Democratic party in the USA, failed in achieving the "left wing" policies of looking after people, their voters wanted, so they got Trump.
Yeah but I wouldn't generalise on that basis. They had the self-imposed Hilary handicap, which enough voters rightly saw as a credibility gap.
My point is about marketing, pr & presentation. Sophisticated tweaking of mass perceptions without losing authenticity. Anyway, did you learn a lesson from the result in Greece? If so, why not share it?
Okay, I agree. Betrayal of the social contract that got them into power was a bad move. I haven't seen any helpful analysis of the deep psychology that caused those leftists to wimp out. So how did their finance minister frame the wimping necessity?
39.7 versus 31.5 is not a landslide as the article says…..it is only the dumb Greek system that awards a large number of bonus seats to the largedt polling party that makes it so.
"Populist Left wing parties tend to disappoint and fail to deliver the promised changes" As a sort of 'Gosman Generalisation' I can accept that. Of course the 'Gosman Generalisation' is a bad faith generalisation, so it deliberately leaves out what may cause that failure to deliver – especially the pervasively hostile operating environment that even moderate left-wing governments face.
But even accepting the statement at face value – it doesn't follow that it "highlight[s] a real problem for those supporting more radical leftist solutions". Because those failures to deliver aren't caused by the radicalism, they are caused by the strength of the opposing forces. And those forces will oppose any change, timid or radical, it doesn't matter. The best response therefore may be even greater radicalism, not less.
No, it highlights you need a better strategy to deal with the opposing forces if you want to get radical left wing policies implemented. What won't help is crying that it ain't fair that people are opposing you in trying to implement your left wing agenda.
mmm thank you Swordfish….belies the stupid media headlines….I'm guessing the ridiculous 50 bonus seats for the biggest party will give the Right power?
The New Zealand election result highlight a real problem for those supporting a more radical right solution to politics. Populist right wing parties tend to disappoint and fail to deliver the promised changes compared to populist left wing parties.
. In it, she explores meat grown in labs from cultured animal cells, crop weeding robots that remove the need for pesticides and vertical indoor farms where vegetables are grown with neither sun nor soil.
Author and Professor of investigative journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University Amanda Little has spent four years travelling around the United States and the world researching what people, business and governments are doing to ensure humanity can be fed sustainably and equitably. Her book is called The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World.
Time for work after what seems like a weekend (something I ate).
I think I sorted the search out a bit. Was running two differing copies of the search tool at startup and which one got grabbed the port at startup was a matter of luck. One could read the database. The other could not.
Good sleuthing. I hope the same gremlin grabs a hold of the voting portal when they finally get around to developing it, and randomises the results. Nobody would ever know – they'd just marvel at how biodiversity had suddenly become evident in politics. We need that, to loosen the strangle-hold of mainstreamers.
Come on. Australian agriculture is already marginal. Where do you think they are going to go, if they are starving and have heat waves that kill people.
They invaded our island land, warring tribes disunited stood no chance. The tribes that accept Roman rule were assimilated, those that did not we're killed and sold into slavery. Eventually they left, Britian united, kept the roads, laws, the dispossession however, the violence was forgotten, we moved on.
Deep in the culture of Europeans is understood both the seizure and the oppression that has been inflicted on Maori. Eventually Maori will too. Average Briton, is no longer a Briton pre Roman invasion; in the mix of Picks, there are Norman, Viking, Italian, etc, and it didn't stop.
You see there is no such thing as White race, it's a nonsense, as someone once pointed out to me, were actually have more colours than any other group, ranging from white, pink, med brown, Indian brown. And it's the same with Maori, they are becoming more coloured. Racism is just the nonsense boil idiots use to get special pleadings. Like some Christians who want to tell non Christians and nonagreeing Christians to obey govt edicts that are sourced solely from their specific readings…
It's a fact that however it was going to happen, land would have been subdivided to utilize the European farming methods. There were never enough Maori to convert all that land. Sure in some cases tribes were treated harsher, it's wrong but nothing Europeans hadn't done to each other, or Maori wouldn't have. Let's just consider the absurdity, that the Europeans turned round and left when asked, they weren't, as tribes realised the power they could get over each other and embraced muskets, etc.
So what is exactly the point of discussing race? To remind us all that racists come from all corners, talk nonsense and want redress for stuff that was going happen inevitably from the invaders technology, and had nothing to do with race, except of course the human one. Sort it out, fair deal, move on.
The reality is as we age as a population, as we grow closer both digitally and culturally, we will harvest a imbalances of inequality, and the ease to which racists can advantage their weaken egos will be expose to be a expense to us all and our future. Sure, if a young poor person start vulgarly ranting about how racist a stranger is, it's not the stranger whose being racist. Sure, it's sad how poor managers are, that they don't hire because of their weaken egos, but really shareholder power is not what it used to be, fix the class system it's far more of a problem.
I don't walk in your shoes, you dont want to, but I don't see how me trying helps you move on, just how we get locked in smelly reeking shoes that actually we all can easily find greviences to feed too. Talking about racism helps you be less racist,and me less, great. But actually the program last night just made racism more prominent. It's not my problem the Romans destroyed Druidism, or robbed my ancestors to their ties to the land, it's not my problem that my invader ancesters and my dispossessed ancestor did stuff to each other. And similarly for some mixed Maori European to demand redress, sure recent greviences that have merit, but fair dealing means we move on together. And so what if we embracesome Maori practices, we're they ever just Maori, weren't they always human,not restricted by race.
look I don't know, who cares, seek the positive in other's.
I find it funny you say you don't define people by race and then next minute go on to defining people by income and class. Have to be a tory!
It's also great having such a strong anti-racist as yourself on here. Telling other races to "get over it" and to for us all to "become one people". Have you considered a career in race relations? 🙂 You would last all of about 5 seconds!
This morning's news included examples of government agencies at arms length from the Ministry like the Transport Authority buying more expensive IT from Texas than from two smaller NZ companies which would have liked to had real opportunity to tender, and felt they could meet the requirements at a reasonable cost. (NZ losing out on VA in building our enterprise in the 21st century.)
Obese patients have to be held in Manukau hospital instead of going to a private partner for post-operative care. The lack of action by National on the food front, to effect a decline in unhealthy food has not helped, with more interest in supporting fast-food businesses, often overseas companies. And the private partners are not wishing to reallocate profit to the more expensive care of the obese, which are more numerous in Manukau than elsewhere, involving infrastructure changes, wider doors, stronger floors, stronger lifting machinery.
So many around, like unexploded bombs, ready to go off.
Almost 20 historic landfill sites in the Tasman district are at risk of being exposed by storm surges and sea level rise.
Information from local councils show there are 20 closed landfills across Nelson and Tasman, 18 of which are located on the coastline or near rivers and estuaries.
Good thinking, I'll support that. Amazing how reluctant politicians are when it comes to shifting from ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Fence at the top isn't hard.
The mining industry is in the early stages of recognising old landfills as an excellent resource. The technologies are sufficiently developed to make proof of concept and pilot plants a viable proposition.
Early projects would need govt development funding and probably operational subsidies, but there are companies that would be interested in giving it a go.
What good ideas. A Ministry of Mitigation would have a clear direction that could not be argued with and result in a Minister being driven out of office as … whatever negative adjective thrown at him/her.
The Ministry would have its place to stand and be expected to act according to its given mission. Let's go for having one.
That would be a good topic to start on!
Seeing the Ministry's job would be to examine and do research and produce results which would have to be published in full, a lot of the prevarication of the nostalgic wishful thinkers would be breached. And it would be done in-government-house not contracted out! And there would be no commercial sensitivity BS either.
I can't quite imagine how that works – do they just dig it up and drag what they need out of what they process. Hardly seems worth it. Is there something else they do – chucking it down a deep mine shaft could be a goer.
Yes something like that. There are such things as ore sorters that are already being used to separate out the metals and plastics. Then I'd imagine you'd go to a wet process of some sort to detox the heavy metals, then filter and convey the resulting damp output to a biological process of some kind.
Maybe convey it up vertically 50m or so out of the reach of sea level, then plant with reed beds or other species known to be good at absorbing any residual metals. There has been a lot of interesting research already done.
While perfect 100% elimination is probably not economically feasible, reducing the hazard by several orders of magnitude (a 99% reduction) should be doable. The economics would depend a lot on how much valuable metals and material can be recovered at the first step.
Melzer has recently transformed the debate around 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Julian Assange’s situation by formally finding that Assange is a victim of state-sponsored (and publicly perpetuated) psychological torture.
His state-sponsored persecution and torture have elicited elicited expressions of amusement and contempt from some "liberals" in New Zealand…..
ZOE FERGUSON: It’s Nelson Mandela’s birthday! NOELLE McCARTHY: Yes it I-I-I-I-I-IS! ZOE FERGUSON: And he shares his birthday with Hunter S. Thompson and Vin Diesel! CHRIS TROTTER:[indulgently] Ho ho ho ho! NOELLE McCARTHY: Well happy BIRTHDAY to Madiba!
…..[General murmurings of assent.]…..
NOELLE McCARTHY: And there’s a new movie out about Julian Assange? ZOE FERGUSON: Yes, The Fifth Estate. It stars Benedict Cumberpatch! NOELLE McCARTHY: And how’s his Australian accent? ZOE FERGUSON: Actually, it’s not bad! Here, have a listen….
A short clip plays, of Benedict Cumberpatch as Assange saying: “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. But if you give him a mask, he will tell you the truth.
…..[Short but significant silence in the studio.]
NOELLE McCARTHY: That wasn’t too bad, actually. CHRIS TROTTER: Of course, a top rate actor like Benedict Cumberpatch was always going to be able to manage an Aussie accent. LISA SCOTT: Mmmmm, mmmmm. NOELLE McCARTHY: Yes indeed. ZOE FERGUSON: Of course Assange says the movie is “propaganda and lies”. He he he! LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha ha! NOELLE McCARTHY: Ha ha ha ha ha! CHRIS TROTTER: Ho ho ho ho ho! He WOULD! Ho ho ho ho!
It's not only wishy-washy "liberals" who are amused at Assange's plight. Our most infamous right wing fashionista and a brutal old cop have rarely found anything so funny as the thought of a political dissenter suffering….
JIM MORA: I like pockets, but there was a trend away from pockets, wasn’t there, and for a while you couldn’t buy a shirt with a pocket in it. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: I LIKE pockets! MORA: Yep. I like pockets. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: I think they’ve been treated quite badly, pockets. GRAHAM BELL: Modern shirts, you’ve got nowhere to put your pens.
….[A long pause, then on to the next topic. They maintain the same light-hearted tone, but this time it’s for something altogether more serious. Like fearful, obedient commissars in Maoist China, these people know the correct stance to take towards an officially designated target]….
JIM MORA: Now, Julian Assange on the catwalk. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET:[highly amused] Yes! MORA: How’s he going to manage this? ZARA POTTS: Well, it hasn’t stopped him, his asylum claim hasn’t stopped him from doing all sorts of things. Even last week he opened rapper MIA’s New York concert with a ten minute Skype chat, so he’s pretty busy. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: I thought he couldn’t leave though. ZARA POTTS: He does it all on his computer. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: Oh, right. ZARA POTTS: This is Vivienne Westwood’s son Ben, and as part of London Fashion Week, he is going to take the catwalk to Julian Assange in the Ecadorian embassy. GRAHAM BELL:[derisive snort] Ha! DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET:[querulous tone] Howwwww? GRAHAM BELL: Some people will do ANYTHING to get publicity. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: Ha ha ha ha ha! ZARA POTTS: Ha ha ha ha ha! Yes, it’s not because he cuts a particularly dashing figure or wears clothes THAT well. The whole thing is a little bit more political than that. Ben Westwood is saying that he wants Julian Assange in his show so that Assange doesn’t slip into obscurity. MORA: There’s not much danger of that though, is there. ZARA POTTS: No. He’s wanting to highlight his plight. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: So he’s going to be modeling the clothes. ZARA POTTS: Yes. GRAHAM BELL: It’ll be the look for the very OILY character. Hm hm hm hm hm. DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: Yeowww! GRAHAM BELL: Hm hm hm hm hm. MORA: How do they put a runway into an embassy? It’s basically just a big HOUSE, isn’t it. ZARA POTTS: Maybe they’ve got a big hallway. The collection has been influenced by Clint Eastwood’s Western films and also Assange’s “combat beret look”.
….[General snickering, snorting and guffawing]….
ZARA POTTS: And there is also a garment with Julian Assange’s image printed on it. He he he he he! DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: Ha ha ha ha ha! GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! Can’t WAIT! MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! ZARA POTTS: The soundtrack is from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, so that will be something to, uh, see….
Chris Trotter, that serious-as-fuck bullfrog and poseur, was driven to imitate Speedy Gonzales as he poured ridicule on the government-designated political target….
SUSAN BALDACCI: Julian Assange is a little bit paranoid. MORA: Oh yes? Hur, hur, hur, hur! SUSAN BALDACCI: Yeah, he claims that being holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy, he is deprived of his human right of getting enough sun. MORA: Is it a human right to get enough sun? SUSAN BALDACCI: That’s what he claims! He claims that being not allowed to leave London is violating his “human rights”. MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha ha ha! CHRIS TROTTER: Haw haw haw haw haw! SUSAN BALDACCI: He thinks he should be allowed out of his Ecuador embassy hideout to sunbathe. MORA: He can get out on the balcony, where he gave that speech! LISA SCOTT: Yeah! Ha ha ha ha ha! CHRIS TROTTER: Yeah! Ha ha ha ha ha! Or get him a sun lamp! THAT’s what he needs! LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha ha! SUSAN BALDACCI: He he he he he! TROTTER: I suspect the ambassador’s just sick of the sight of him! “Are you ever going to LEEEEAAAVE?” MORA: Sun lamp! Get him a sun lamp!!! LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha ha! MORA: Back after the news!
Morrissey – you have made this point dozens of times. I have realised after reading your notes as to their comments that these people just think that knowing the names of newsmakers and their current travails is a huge achievement. Chris Trotter is on there because to do a good job of understanding NZs present culture, he needs to mingle and listen to the current prattle. And sometimes it's a good change to have a prattle as a break from the dark fog that flows through our history to pool at our door.
Time for a kit-kat perhaps Morrissey. Do you remember the tv ad where the animal photographer was trying to entice the chimps out, but they only came out of the hide when he was looking the other way. It's no use keeping tabs on the Panel – it is candy floss for tired people, always the same. Keep on with it and you'll get as stale a mind as most listeners. You might find some political funkery from a different angle if you changed seats.
Chris Trotter is on there because to do a good job of understanding NZs present culture, he needs to mingle and listen to the current prattle.
He wasn't "listening to prattle", he was mocking the suffering of a political dissenter.
It's no use keeping tabs on the Panel – it is candy floss for tired people, always the same.
Fair point, buddy. I would go crazy if I sat around listening to that all day. I don't, however, listen to it very much at all. I made the grave error this morning of tuning into "Magic Talk" hosted by one Peter Williams. It was so goddamned horrible that I was compelled to dash down a hurried transcript. Keep your eyes peeled!
I see that I’ve already passed comment on his horror show, by the way….
Morrissey I read you because you try to have something to say. I don't want to read your opinion about other talking heads. Blah blah let them go. Can you look stuff up for How to Get There and add something every Sunday that would be useful?
I share your opinion of these talking heads. I decided long ago to make a point of capturing as much of their chatter as I could. Sure it's ephemeral, and most of it is worthless in and of itself, but it's important to understand just how these vacuous people hold so much influence in our society.
Anyway, most of the time I don't analyze them, I just capture their repulsive conversations and re-present them to the public. I think that Chris "Speedy Gonzales" Trotter, Laughing Lisa Scott, Grouchy Graham Bell, Despicable Denise L'Estrange-Corbet, and all the rest of them do a fine job of hanging themselves. I don't think they should be allowed to escape scrutiny and judgement just because most people never heard, or have forgotten, their hateful performances.
Thanks for the warning, Shark. But I really don't spend much time listening to it. For instance, I never listen to the drones on Radio Sport now. Although I hope some people still engage with those chumps the way that THESE young troublemakers did!…
" It's no use keeping tabs on the Panel – it is candy floss for tired people, always the same. Keep on with it and you'll get as stale a mind as most listeners."
It is also helpful to keep reminding some people and possibly inform others as to some of the terrible views held by many of RNZ regular hosts and guests…it is also helpful to place the news and views provided by RNZ it's rightful context..so keep banging on Morrissey I say..job well done.
Without presuming New Zealand can do without an oil refinery for the imaginable future, and I sure ain't bagging them for trying, but what would it take to make an oil refinery sustainable?
Silly idea. The salt air would leave a film on the panels that would require constant cleaning. The salt air would very possibly corrode the panels. 31 hectares is a lot of land and already the refinery is close to the Port in one direction and close to the timber treatment in the other. And Winston wants to expand the port. And then there's a neat wee DOC reserve with part of the Te Araroa trail running through it. And then there's the absolute bestest overnight parking spot for when we're traveling from the FFN back to the Waikato.
Solar panels. Tech from statoil (already in use) to take the CO2 released from the process rather than venting to the atmosphere. Use the oil products for applications where alternatives are not yet available – the medicines, high tech/high value end; where it's not just burned up for a trip to the dairy.
Gordon Campbell of Werewolf and Scoop thinks that being aware of commercial reality and seizing an opportunity like Lord of the Rings and other productions has given us a standing that puts us in line for ongoing business for our creatives. This is important for us to take on board. The naive wittering and deep resentment that built up over this matter as unions didn't get an agreement to suit themselves and foolishly allied themselves with an Oz union that would have no friendship for our situation, has not led to a loss to the country and we can be grateful for that. Idealism needs to step forward first, and then cede some of its hopes to pragmatism, and then be of nice wit to see where advantage can be gained in doing a good, clever, honest job and getting leverage wherever is reasonable.
Ultimately, we seem to have won this production largely because of the mature film industry infrastructure that New Zealand has built on the back of those previously subsidized productions. For example: we now have the studio sound stages that Scotland currently lacks, highly skilled film crews, expert props-makers, costumers and set-builders, and can boast a world-leading post-production facility. Basically, New Zealand can offer the entire spectrum of services from initial shoots to post-production FX, and none of this would have been possible without the previous generation of tax breaks and production grants. As the World of Locations industry website points out, those prior productions also committed to substantial quotas of key local personnel, tourism campaigns and skills and talent development programmes for emerging local crew.
The onslaught against Pharmac is a bit disturbing. Garner for one echoes the claim that NZ is in the Third World in Cancer treatment. This is patently un true. Facts are better than rabid slurs. This what some in NZ hold up as a gold standard. The UK Cancer Drugs Fund.
"Access at any cost was a clear totem around which the pro-Fund media based its coverage. The views of experts who pointed out the intrinsic unfairness of the Fund – or the lack of efficacy of many of the drugs – seem to have counted for little against the human interest stories of individual patients," the report said.
If concluded that “mostly positive media stories are likely to have contributed to the CDF's continuation despite mounting evidence of its ineffectiveness”.
Critics of the fund were "lone voices in the wilderness”, it said
That study was commissioned by Richard Sullivan, Professor of cancer and global health at Kings College London, who advises other countries in cancer care regimes.
In 2017 he said the UK's CDF had been a "huge waste of money" and a "major policy error" before NICE took over responsibility for it in 2016.
A few years ago our Pharmac was the envy of many other countries.
Have a look at the graph in the excellent Media Watch program. NZ is at the base in green and is very close to Australian success rate.
The problem is it’s a emotional plaything for whoever is in opposition to beat the government of the day around the head with Both National and labour have not been shy to do so, media then run with it or in some cases initiate for good press and opposition politicians more than happy to play ball.
Labour fears being accused of being profligate and of raising the net debt of an already indebted nation, but the Government's net debt is at the bottom of the OECD and the nation's net debt has fallen 20-30 percentage points of GDP in the last decade.
Robertson and Ardern argue we are so vulnerable in the event of another GFC or an earthquake that we have to keep our powder dry. But they're thinking as if they were in the offices of Helen Clark or Michael Cullen from 1999 to 2008, when New Zealand's economy and balance sheets were both actually and relatively vulnerable.
If we did something that raised our dollar a little, that would no doubt put up our international debt, but would also put up prices of imports which would also reduce our imports which would enable us to reduce our international debt (private), which would make it easier for the Govt to borrow for infrastructure which would increase employment and wages, which would then increase spending, and more would go on NZ goods with imports being dearer, and then we could bring our interest rate up a little which would bring superannuiants spending up somewhat and so would produce quantitative raising.
And this can be picked apart no doubt but I wonder if we want to keep on as we are going, because I feel that we are stuck and need to put a sack or board under the wheels for traction.
Trying to protect important long-term national assets from the crazies only interested in their short-term asses, requires staunchness and now some support. The Government is powerless against progress; both the Orc-land City Council and central gummint.
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Charlesworth said despite their disappointment in the judge's decision, she and Maehl acknowledged they had to pay and would be fundraising for the costs.
A company owned by a property investment guru who allegedly encouraged buyers to use fake names, work in packs to drive down prices and target desperate homeowners facing foreclosure is being prosecuted by the Commerce Commission…
In 2017 the Weekend Herald revealed a tutoring video by Fong was being supplied free to members of the Auckland Property Investors Association (APIA).
It encouraged investors to look for the "seven Ds" – targeting deceased estates, desperate homeowners facing foreclosure, developers on the brink of bankruptcy, divorcees and "dummies" who didn't know the value of their home.
(Do the family wanting to cut down the historic tree for their puny development belong to the Auckland Property Investors Ass,?)
Watercare recently lodged a resource management application in order to begin construction of a replacement water treatment plant in the heart of Titirangi, adding to the powderkeg of tension between locals and Council over the protection of kauri trees.
Maui is everything a race relation meeting? Are you always looking for the best help? Most people, seems to me, believe that racism occurs, and its a opportunity to dissauge, recondition, change minds. It isn't going to happen if racists like you see everyone else as racists, its a negative negative, perpetutaul cycle. We will, are even, one people, and we will just keep merging, and racists like you need to move on coz youre history. Sure there will be differences, like Hindus go to Temple, etc… ..must eat you up that.
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 2: Day eight of living in lock-down… Today, my work day starts late. Our rosters and clients have been dramatically changed, lessening (theoretically) the number of people in our work “bubble”. If just one of us catches covid19 the impact could be considerable as Grey Base Hospital ...
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin Don’t we all know that feeling now.
Prospect Magazine alerted me to this particularly apt quote. It is a much more evocative quote than Hemingway’s “gradually then suddenly” which is also doing ...
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...
Brian Williamson1, Prof Nick Wilson2 (1Economic consultant, UK; 2University of Otago Wellington)In this blog, we outline how a win-win social contract could be forged to address the major dimensions of response to the COVID-19 pandemic when using a mitigation strategy: the particular need to protect older people from high ...
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...
No Free Society Without A Free And Functioning News Media: If we are to surrender our civil rights to the broader cause of defeating Covid-19, then foreign corporations must, likewise, surrender their right to inflict immense economic and cultural harm on New Zealanders simply because it improves their bottom line.I’M ...
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion. One of the most fatuous recent grandstanding comments (of about a week ago), adding to the public’s anxieties, was ...
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...
Today has felt surreal. I was all set to touch base online with my science communication students when a colleague shared the news that Bauer Media would be shutting down its publications immediately. The first link I saw implied it was Woman’s Weekly affected, and even that shocked me. But ...
Bogeymen, Real And Imagined: Is the number of psychopathic and sociopathic individuals in any given society truly as vanishingly small as we like to tell ourselves? Isn’t it more likely that the mass-shooters and serial-killers filling the headlines represent only the tip of a much, much larger iceberg of frightfulness? ...
Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 1: Day seven of living in lock-down… This morning I had a brief chat with one of my neighbours, “D” (social distance between us, a good three or four metres). I learned he had resigned from his previous job and had been hired by another company – ...
Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
Associate Prof George Thomson, Louise Delany, Prof Nick WilsonWhile it is possible that New Zealand can use intense public health controls to eradicate COVID-19 from the country – we must also plan for other scenarios where thousands of New Zealanders are sick – including many urgently hospitalised.1 Better resilience ...
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...
I was surprised when the prime minister described the Economic Response to Covid-19 package as the ‘largest peacetime government spend in New Zealand's history’. Reflecting – checking through history – I realised that the term ‘spend’ was crucial and the package had no income tax cuts. Even so, it has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out. In ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentMedia Henry Cooke (Stuff): There’s no easy way for Government to save media drowning. But a fast fix is ...
Just after midday a cyclist was killed on a straight road on a clear day, after being hit by a van in North Canterbury. Lucinda Rees from NZ School Speeds is asking for the mandatory cyclist/vulnerable road user passing gap, which is in consultation, ...
By Indra Singh in Suva Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says that if Fijians continue to disregard the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic directives from authorities, a nationwide 24-hour curfew could be imposed. His comments come as Fiji yesterday recorded its two latest coronavirus cases, taking the total to seven. Bainimarama said ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Ōtaki author Renée.Yes, a few cyclists out and about. I remember my first bike bought from Farmers around 1942, five shillings a ...
Internal memos from NZ’s biggest magazine company, which announced its sudden closure yesterday, state they were lobbying to change a ban on publication. But the minister responsible, Kris Faafoi, has doubled down on rejecting that position, calling those internal communications ‘contradictory’ to what they said to him directly.Magazine publishing giant ...
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...
The loss of a loved one can be difficult in the best of times. But it’s even more painful when the planes are grounded.Late on Saturday night, three days into New Zealand’s level four lockdown, Harish got a call from his sister in India telling him that his father had ...
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...
Covid-19 cases top 1m; Trump brags he's #1 on Facebook and says he knows about the virus because a 'friend' got it; UK testing scandal grows; Cats more vulnerable to virus than dogsTicking up to a million cases: A gruesome landmark was passed today when we go over one million ...
“So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10 COVID-19 - Lock down: one week on Welcome to the latest Policy Watch ...
Workers at the Port of Lyttelton are resisting the introduction of casual cargo handlers due to concerns about COVID19. RMTU South Island Organizer John Kerr says there is concern about a Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) proposal to "bring in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Strangio, Associate Professor of Politics, Monash University One of Australia’s preeminent historians, Stuart Macintyre, once observed of John Curtin, the Labor Party leader revered for navigating this nation through the dangers of the second world war, that he would have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide New research the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that SARS CoV 2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19 coronavirus, is more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on cardboard or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The Australian government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy, estimated to cost A$130 billion, is a crucial measure to help keep the economy from completely cratering. But, even if COVID-19 is sufficiently under control for the economy to return ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gordon Menzies, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Technology Sydney During this pandemic, our twin health and economic crises require two different types of concern, and they operate differently. For the health crisis, a high level of concern is necessary. Saving lives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harriette Richards, University of Melbourne Times of instability and crisis produce increased nostalgia for the past. We long for a time that no longer exists, or never existed. Like melancholy, nostalgia is a sentiment of loss – one that’s particularly familiar to ...
RBNZ bans bank dividends; Who is next after Bauer's shock closure? Vital plan blocked; Commission wins in real estate price fixing case; Softbank walks out WeWorkNo you won’t: The Reserve Bank took the unprecedented step of prohibiting the banks from paying dividends during the coronavirus crisis or redeeming any ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Media reels after horror week, Wellington Council facing massive budget crunch, and highest single day of new Covid-19 cases.It had always been clear that this was going to be a difficult time for the media, with the Covid-19 downturn hitting ...
Former National Finance Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English question the severity of the Covid-19 lockdown and ask whether the Government has an exit strategy. Andrew Patterson reports. Steven Joyce and Bill English have seen their fair share of financial crises and natural disasters as the last National Government's finance ...
There is no sign the government will tighten quarantine controls for those arriving at the border, in response to calls from the Opposition to quarantine and test everyone. ...
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Fiji, prompting a lockdown of its capital. Teuila Fuatai reports. Fijian health authorities are scrambling to identify close contacts of its latest two Covid-19 cases. The couple, from Nabua, Suva, appear unrelated to the country’s previous five. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ...
Christchurch is a city of contrasts, as some stretch their legs with smiles and others with suspicion. David Williams reports It was no surprise it happened in Christchurch’s student quarter. The smiles of those standing at their gates in Ilam Road broadened as a baby kayak strapped to a skateboard ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Suzanne McFadden speaks to two Kiwi 'bubbles' who have unanticipated - but serendipitous - housemates. Sue Bremner has found a silver lining to the brooding cloud of lockdown – it’s meant getting to know the sister who never knew she existed for almost 65 years. Englishwoman Bremner has found herself holed ...
As the walls go up around the world, global trade is feeling the effects. But beyond the short-term pain, what systemic change might we see? Sam Sachdeva reports. International trade was already facing headwinds before the spread of coronavirus - but the pandemic has knocked it well and truly off-course. ...
The decisions by German media giant Bauer to shut its New Zealand magazine operation and NZME’s axing of Radio Sport have been precipitated by the coronavirus. But, as Mark Jennings and Tim Murphy write, the closures are also due to the deeper problems of the local media industry. The sudden announcement ...
How long does it take to recover, how do you know you’ve recovered and can you catch Covid-19 twice? If you’ve had Covid-19 when are you officially recovered? Turns out there’s no test in New Zealand. It's judged by time of onset and last symptoms. How do I tick the ...
The first thing to note about the partying Queenstown backpackers is these acts of youthful rebellion are not an isolated phenomenon. As I write this on April 1, The Guardian is reporting on a group of people in their 20s who took the opportunity to celebrate Spring Break in the ...
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom will share posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game at home. This week we have Black Ferns making their own training equipment, a Kiwi professional cyclist virtually racing against riders around the world, and ANZ Premiership netballers calling their ...
Steve Braunias pays tribute to the Listener, closed yesterday in the wake of Covid-19's devastation of the economy. This piece to mark the end of the Listener is exactly how I started writing for the Listener: late at night, with instant coffee, in a state of shock. The shock then ...
The shockingly fast collapse of Bauer presents the government with a momentous choice, says Duncan Greive. Will it save the media industry, or concentrate on its own?This moment was always coming. The long, steady flow of advertising revenue to the tech giants has left the private sector media gaunt, much ...
A new app unveiled by the Government to dispense information about Covid-19 can be scaled up to help with pandemic tracking and diagnosing the illness, Marc Daalder reportsA Government WhatsApp channel revealed today will help carry information pertinent to the Covid-19 pandemic to the nation's smartphones - but that's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As the COVID-19 transforms our individual lives, we are learning a few new things about ourselves as a society. We’ve known Australians suspect authority and, like other Western countries, have come to trust government less ...
About those handles and rails and communal areas …The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here.As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is changing how we live. With a rapid increase in cases, we are now isolating in our homes to “flatten the curve”. However, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this special hour long podcast presented by Mark Evans, professor of governance and director of Democracy 2025, the panel discusses Australian democracy with Emeritus Professor Ian Chubb and Michelle Grattan. The panel dissects the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government will provide free child care in a move aimed at ensuring parents, especially in essential services, are able to keep working. More than 945,000 families with 1.3 million children will benefit. The new ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Education Policy Lead, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced free childcare for more than one million families, with a funding boost that aims to keep more than 13,000 childcare services across Australia open. In doing so, ...
Open mike 08/07/2019 
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...4 hours ago
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...5 hours ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...8 hours ago
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...9 hours ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...10 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...16 hours ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...20 hours ago
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An interesting short video from Novara Media which starkly lays out how class riddled the UK is… (And the sassy Ash Sarkar… *sigh*)
The Tories always hold the view that the state is an apparatus for the protection of the swag of the property owners … Christ drove the money changers out of the temple, but you inscribe their title deed on the altar cloth.
There is only one hope for mankind – and that is democratic Socialism.
“That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were.”
Quotes fron Aneurin Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan
So your suggesting and imposed ideaology their Ed, democracy as long as it socialism, yep that will work Just like Hong Kong and Russian democracy, you can vote as long as you vote how you are told
Whereas in the US it doesn't matter if you vote or not; the district you vote in can be so gerrymandered that you will end up with a Repugnant congress rep. no matter what.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/27/18681923/supreme-court-gerrymandering-partisan-rucho-common-cause
I think Ed is talking about Nz, so who is arguing for gerrymandering albeit while not perfect ( what democracy is) I think US democracy and political freedom is slightly ahead of China, Hong Kong and Russia
Really?
Maybe if you live in Wisconsin where your vote for senator is worth 84 times that of a voter in California.
Democracies, real ones, tend to vote for "socialist" policies.
Which is why National are going all pretend concern, about housing and health, lately.
This guy was around in the 50 60s unfortunately not the 70s to see what the glories of socialism inflicted on the Uk His thinking and experiences was 19th early 20th century Britain and so are his solutions, hardly relevant today based on old world problems with old world solutions, not to mention they ended up in abject failure with Britain pretty rooted by 1970 and only saved by Maggie Thatcher liberal conservatism and a lot smarter Tory party than they have masquerading as such today, albeit still better than the alternative crazy Corbynestas Party
Do you even live on the same planet.
Thatcher destroyed Britain.
They are unlikely to ever, recover.
Beg to disagree after living in Britain for many years, for all Britain is ;now it’s streets ahead of the dour, strike ridden closed for business 1970s, as is nz to that point Your logic falls over by not factoring in what Britain or nz would be today if it carried on the same path it was on, not contrasting some rose tinted view of what life use to be like
I was there in New Zealand in the 70's. A much better place, in many ways, than New Zealand, now.
Unless you think poverty, homelessness, beggars on the streets and every family having to work at least two jobs, is an improvement.
Still avoiding the question KJT , it is not so much your nostalgic view of 1970s Nz ( I am sure it was nice albeit boring and very little choice of anything) or now what happens on the boundaries of Nz but more so where nz would be if we carried on with same policy setting once Britain decided we were not their farm and would no longer fund our lifestyle
Interesting right wing propaganda spin, but wrong.
Much of our "lifestyle" was funded by internal production.
It could be argued that no longer having to produce commodities, to fund importing shoddy British manufactured goods, sound familiar, would have improved our lifestyle. But we will never know, as Neo -liberal Governments not only changed the bath water, which needed doing, but they also threw out the baby, the bath, and sold the house.
100%KJT She was an ignorant bigoted wrecker.
Why you blaming socialism for the blundering incompetence of pommie management beewee?
Because history tells us so Gabster
History tells us Thatcher was a cold, cowardly, loveless piece of shit who pitted the workers of GB against each other to further her political agenda, too.
Tells us the opposite actually. But keep your delusions.
Eh?
Ash Sarkar is "sassy", you say. If that word now means "cowardly, craven, ready to recycle vicious government lies", then you are correct.
On the other hand, if the meaning of the word remains what it has always meant, then your descriptor for her is utterly inappropriate.
https://novaramedia.com/2019/04/15/julian-assange-and-the-problem-of-solidarity/
‘Just sayin’ it’s possible to think that Julian Assange is a definite creep, a probable rapist, a conspiracist whackjob *and* that his arrest has incredibly worrying implications for the treatment of those who blow the whistle on gross abuses of state power.’
That statement is clearly and objectively true, so it's not obvious where you're drawing the descriptors "cowardly, craven and vicious" from, other than unsavory corners of your own id.
The bullshit about him being a creep, a rapist and a whackjob should be a clue as to her cowardice and her dishonesty.
It's a clue that she may not agree with Morrissey on the subject, nothing more. "Disagrees with Morrissey" is not a synonym for "cowardice" or "dishonesty."
"Disagrees with Morrissey" is not a synonym for "cowardice" or "dishonesty."
That's true, Milt. What makes her a liar and a coward is not that she might disagree with me, or with Julian Assange himself. What makes her a coward and a liar is her recycling of vicious government-sponsored lies about Julian Assange.
"Vicious government-sponsored lies" is your opinion, and you're calling her a coward and liar because she may (it's not clear from the tweet) disagree with that opinion.
It helps if you don't start from the position that your opinions are objective facts – many logic fails can be avoided by that one simple technique.
"Vicious government-sponsored lies" is your opinion,
It's a reasoned opinion; unlike Sarkar with her brutal recycling of smears she's read in the Grauniad and heard on British State/Murdoch broadcasting, I actually care about the truthfulness and the effect of my words.
and you're calling her a coward and liar because she may (it's not clear from the tweet) disagree with that opinion.
If she disagrees with it—which, considering she otherwise presents as an intelligent and critical thinker, she no doubt does—then why did she repeat those disgusting smears? The only possible reason, presuming that she is a rational person who is skeptical of the British government's machinations, is that she was afraid of stating outright what the facts of the matter are, i.e., that Assange is in captivity because he is indeed a journalist who exposed massive crimes by the institutions trying to destroy him.
If you did actually care about the truthfulness and effectiveness of your words, you wouldn't continually present your personal opinions (eg "brutal recycling of smears", "disgusting smears") as facts.
Okay, she recycled the smears in a caring fashion, and the smears were actually quite classy, and as unimpeachable and rigorous as that Christchurch police case against Peter Ellis.
Still leaves her looking rather cowardly, however.
Morpissey scorns the truth when it clashes with his knowledge of how things should be.
What "truth" are you talking about Gobby? Are you going to start raving about his cat now?
"President Trump’s approval rating has risen to the highest point of his presidency" according to the latest ABC News / Washinton Post poll – but the polling finished July 1st, so it doesn't endorse his claim that the American revolutionary army took over airports in 1775 (134 years before the first airport was built).
"Trump has slipped up in making historical references before. He referred to Frederick Douglass during a 2017 Black History Month event as if he were still alive, even though the famed abolitionist died in 1895. He also claimed that President Andrew Jackson was angry about "what was happening" with the Civil War, although Jackson died 16 years before the war began." https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-trump-revolutionary-war-airport-memes-20190705-story.html
He could be competing for an honorary degree in historical revisionism, eh? Historical revisionists are normally leftist academics, of the anti-imperial persuasion, so pitching for their vote at the military rally on July 4th could be seen as a recruiting move to get more patriots on board.
And "the survey shows a clear majority of Americans continue to oppose impeachment proceedings. The new poll finds 59 percent of Americans saying the House should not begin such proceedings".
Dennis, do you think his "base"—whatever that actually is—cares or even understands that he spouted that ridiculous anachronism? After all, many of them think the world is just a tad over 6,000 years old, and that the moon landing was a hoax.
Yeah Morrisey, much of his base is permanently out to lunch. Those that are true conservatives yet educated and erudite are always the rightists with the most leverage on the right of centre. The ones you refer to are vastly greater in number in the USA, yet they are merely voters.
The ones to watch are the opinion leaders in the establishment (traditionally more right than left, yet a mix). Such people support Trump when he's useful, but are likely to withdraw that support when he becomes a liability.
How much more outrageous do you think he might get, Dennis?
I've done some background reading on the guy to ascertain his potential for a second term. His style has always been outrageous – deliberately so. The question of mental illness is the hinge. We can't predict how that may trend. Others may be better placed than me to opine on trajectories of dementia…
Geek elections ……… 🙁 🙁 but predicatable! (As were the Indian elections for that matter).
oops! the case of the missing 'r'
I'm thinking come 2020, the Left will scrape/glide in for a second term, but that voter turn out will remain abysmal, and we'll still be pontificating as to why that is whilst preparing for a 2023 defeat, still unable to actually get our shit together.
This morning's Nine2Noon/from the Right, and from the Left (with Mills rather than the slightly-less-from-the-Right Williams) was QI. Some valid points "On Both Sides, On BOTH sides….. tremendous, phenomenal, etc).
Bloody shame Jonathan Boston's team came up with a few ideas AFTER the election, alongside a few others that have been banging their heads against brick walls for the past few years. Although I understand why they couldn't. Although we could have had another one of those committee things, perhaps given it the acronym CAMEL and staffed it with a load of Horse riders fresh from a UK fox hunt, and parachuted in for the task. They could even give us a few more linguistic platitudes for the pollywantacracker and departmental headhoncho to spout
And @ Dennis Frank (above or below – can't be fucked looking which right now), although you might be correct in suggesting targeting the 'middle' to win elections is the way to go, we shouldn't be pretending we'll solve issues and the plight of those at the edges, or indeed those who've given up on participating in our democracy as long as we do.
we shouldn't be pretending we'll solve issues and the plight of those at the edges, or indeed those who've given up on participating in our democracy as long as we do
It's an important point. I'd prefer you to view it with more optimism.
Whereas most centrists are simply there by default (unable to identify with left or right) a portion are principled and either opinion leaders or political activists. That is to say, they wield more influence as a group than their numbers suggest. Why? Because transcending polarity is both sophisticated thinking and a sign of intelligence.
Need it defeat ethics or conscience? Of course not! It's readily deployable alongside both, as a political stance. I'm not even slightly interested in resiling from support of GP policies, for instance. Doesn't mean to say I'm sufficiently stupid to insist they are implemented in coalition govt. All I ask is for the GP leadership to demonstrate a little more expertise…
oops! the case of the missing 'r'
It's also quite interesting pondering exactly what might be "predicatable" from that election. Unless there's also an extra "a".
True 🙂
I'll get up a little later tomorrow
Actually. I think it about time the geeks did have an election to nominate their leader and spokesperson.. Note the gender-neutral thing. Mankind – sorry – Personkind has a long way to go in achieving the ideal nomenclature.
Illustrating the impact of the new disability family care funding policy: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12247412
From the sidebar: http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/07/fuck-surplus-feed-kids.html
If I had to choose one advocate to get the ear of the Current Mob in order to effect a change in attitude towards poverty it would be Susan St. John from CPAG.
I'd have her on speed dial if I were the PM and truly desired Wellbeing for my people.
A cheap shot but it isn't entirely wrong – perhaps not a surplus but a sir-plus. As most of the triumph for the surplus is likely to come from males, and most of the angst about lack of money is likely with females.
On Natrad this morning was an interview with advocate Jane Carrigan who has been supporting Diane Moody and her significantly learning disabled son Shane Chamberlain through a couple of legal actions.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018703096/disability-care-funding-changes-give-false-hope-family-carers
Predictably, they are not impressed that yesterday's announcement regarding the much fought for fix of the stinking mess left by the Previous Incumbents of disability support services provided by family carers does not include an overhaul of the Needs Assessment process.
The Appeal Court judges had this to say…
Postscript[90]
We make two additional points. First, we note that this is the third occasion on which a dispute between the Ministry of Health and parents who care for disabled adult children has reached this Court. We hope that in the future parties to disputes over the nature and extent of funding eligibility are able to settle their differences without litigation.
Second, we have referred to our unease, which is shared by Palmer J, about the complexity of the statutory instruments governing funding eligibility for disability support services. They verge on the impenetrable, especially for a lay person, and have not been revised or updated to take into account the significant change brought about by pt 4A. We hope that the Ministry is able to find an effective means of streamlining the regime, thereby rendering it accessible for the people who need it most and those who care for them.
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1802/ChamberlainvMinisterofHealth.pdf
Some of us felt more than a little better that these august and intelligent fellows struggled to understand a system that has blighted the existence of disabled Kiwis and their families.
To say that some of us have a less than constructive relationship with our NASC (Needs Assessment and Service Coordination) office would be merely hinting at the frustration many of us have encountered.
Both Peter and myself have got off the phone from our NASC in tears.
The news reports this morning indicate that the agencies that government contracts out to, to implement its policies have considerable licence to interpret the law which can take its actions beyond the intention of the law, and that where the country is split between numerous contractors, there will be different approaches and judgments made about what entitlements caretakers are allocated.
That this happens to carers of disabled people was revealed while talking about the funding difficulties that carers are having in this mornings news.
This is one of the unchallengeable disadvantages of government not running systems directly, all this opening up to private operators in matters that relate to people's lives, only lengthens the chain of responsibility and makes it difficult to implement policies appropriately and with the balance of efficiency for cost and effectiveness of kindly and practical help that is justified by need, showing humanity.
I don't see agencies at a distance from government, doing a better job than Government Direct. That is a term I would expect to hear more about as a citizen and a voter!
Parents struggling to look after disabled family members say changes announced by the government on Sunday mean very little and just gives false hope.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018703097/work-ongoing-to-change-disability-support-issues-genter
The complex assessment system that determines the hours per week that the family carer works has not been changed, and this has been heavily criticised by those caring for family members.
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter joins us with her response.
"…of kindly and practical help that is justified by need, showing humanity. "
Some of us are way past the point of expecting humanity from our NASC. We'd be positively orgasmic if they gave even the slightest hint that they had a working knowledge of the different types of impairment and the appropriate type of hands on care required to meet an individual's core needs.
If any of them had ever asked "How can we help you?" I think we might have died of shock.
(I write in the past tense because the relationship between Peter and myself and our NASC has broken down beyond recovery.
Just as well they're not actually having to fund any care for him.)
I hope for brighter days for you soon Rosemary.
I say a little prayer for you coming from Aretha Franklin.
The Greek election result highlight a real problem for those supporting a more radical leftist solution to politics. Populist Left wing parties tend to disappoint and fail to deliver the promised changes compared to populist right wing parties.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/07/greeks-choose-between-beach-and-ballot-in-first-post-debt-bailout-poll
The winner: "Mitsotakis, a reformist ex-banker who has been at pains to modernise and revamp one of Europe’s most conservative parties since being elevated to its helm in January 2016. “Credit has to go to him and his strategy of opening up and moving the party towards the centre,” said Haris Theocharis, a candidate MP and former head of public revenues."
Yet more proof that centrism is the key to success. Will the slow learners in the GP leadership cabal get it this time? Unlikely.
Total Bollocks.
Cleaving to the centre, is how the US democrats left a big hole of disappointed voters, for Trump and the repubs, to drive a horse and cart through.
And, will be the reason why, Labour may lose in 2020.
Even Bridges is pretending to be more left wing to get back power.
BTW. The Greens are hardly radical left. Current social policies are about as "left" as Holyoaks, unfortunately!
You're in denial. Wanting sensible/intelligent leftist policies ought not handicap a party into marginalisation. People can walk & chew gum simultaneously, and it's up to politicians to demonstrate equivalent finesse.
The point is that success comes from learning what actually works in the real world. The lesson from how the radical left handled power in Greece does need to be learned. The lesson from Greek voters!
What happened" in the real world" was the Democratic party in the USA, failed in achieving the "left wing" policies of looking after people, their voters wanted, so they got Trump.
THAT, is the real world!
Yeah but I wouldn't generalise on that basis. They had the self-imposed Hilary handicap, which enough voters rightly saw as a credibility gap.
My point is about marketing, pr & presentation. Sophisticated tweaking of mass perceptions without losing authenticity. Anyway, did you learn a lesson from the result in Greece? If so, why not share it?
Yes. Greece voted for Syriza, who then reneged on their "leftish" promises.
Pretty obvious lesson there.
As their ex finance minister explains.
Okay, I agree. Betrayal of the social contract that got them into power was a bad move. I haven't seen any helpful analysis of the deep psychology that caused those leftists to wimp out. So how did their finance minister frame the wimping necessity?
The finance Minister resigned when Syriza "wimped" out.
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2019/07/09/how-syrizas-capitulations-allowed-the-greek-right-to-escape-the-dustbin-of-history-the-new-statesman/
39.7 versus 31.5 is not a landslide as the article says…..it is only the dumb Greek system that awards a large number of bonus seats to the largedt polling party that makes it so.
"Populist Left wing parties tend to disappoint and fail to deliver the promised changes" As a sort of 'Gosman Generalisation' I can accept that. Of course the 'Gosman Generalisation' is a bad faith generalisation, so it deliberately leaves out what may cause that failure to deliver – especially the pervasively hostile operating environment that even moderate left-wing governments face.
But even accepting the statement at face value – it doesn't follow that it "highlight[s] a real problem for those supporting more radical leftist solutions". Because those failures to deliver aren't caused by the radicalism, they are caused by the strength of the opposing forces. And those forces will oppose any change, timid or radical, it doesn't matter. The best response therefore may be even greater radicalism, not less.
No, it highlights you need a better strategy to deal with the opposing forces if you want to get radical left wing policies implemented. What won't help is crying that it ain't fair that people are opposing you in trying to implement your left wing agenda.
The Greek Election Result highlights:
Majority Bonus System + fragmentation of the Left
In terms of popular support … (for all Parties receiving over 1% of vote):
Broad Left (Syriza, KINAL (MfC), Communist, MeRA25, Course of Freedom) = 49.9%
Broad Right (ND, Greek Solution, Golden Dawn) = 46.4%
Or … excluding those Parties that failed to make the Threshold:
Broad Left: 48.4%
Broad Right: 43.4%
Who is likely to be in power?
mmm thank you Swordfish….belies the stupid media headlines….I'm guessing the ridiculous 50 bonus seats for the biggest party will give the Right power?
Meanwhile…
The New Zealand election result highlight a real problem for those supporting a more radical right solution to politics. Populist right wing parties tend to disappoint and fail to deliver the promised changes compared to populist left wing parties.
ACT. 3% of the vote.
Shows the real popularity of right wing policy.
Where is the example of a radical right wing party taking power in NZ and failing to deliver on their policies?
Failing by whose standards?
. In it, she explores meat grown in labs from cultured animal cells, crop weeding robots that remove the need for pesticides and vertical indoor farms where vegetables are grown with neither sun nor soil.
Author and Professor of investigative journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University Amanda Little has spent four years travelling around the United States and the world researching what people, business and governments are doing to ensure humanity can be fed sustainably and equitably. Her book is called The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
Time for work after what seems like a weekend (something I ate).
I think I sorted the search out a bit. Was running two differing copies of the search tool at startup and which one got grabbed the port at startup was a matter of luck. One could read the database. The other could not.
Good sleuthing. I hope the same gremlin grabs a hold of the voting portal when they finally get around to developing it, and randomises the results. Nobody would ever know – they'd just marvel at how biodiversity had suddenly become evident in politics. We need that, to loosen the strangle-hold of mainstreamers.
Nice work.
Article on the Intercept that argues immigration/asylum-seeking isn't a massive problem at even the levels that make right-wingers crap their pants. And efforts to prevent it kill people. Lots of people.
Yes, it requires planning and support, but it's just not enough to screw up an economy or suddenly disrupt a culture.
We can work it out – if we put our minds, our brains, our hearts to it. I'm thinking in music this morning.
We can work it out. Life is very short and there is no time for fussing and fighting my friend.
15 million Australian and I forget how many millions of Indonesian, climate refugees heading for New Zealand, "won't be a problem"?
That's the sort of math that said we'd all be dead from ebola by now because of the trends in the first couple of months of the 2014 outbreak.
It's coupled with the sort of misquoting that makes one wonder how carefully the link was read.
Come on. Australian agriculture is already marginal. Where do you think they are going to go, if they are starving and have heat waves that kill people.
Most will stay and fight each other.
Others will go for Europe or the US.
Some will try to fly here. And flights are controllable at point of origin.
As for the rest, the Tasman is a big moat.
They invaded our island land, warring tribes disunited stood no chance. The tribes that accept Roman rule were assimilated, those that did not we're killed and sold into slavery. Eventually they left, Britian united, kept the roads, laws, the dispossession however, the violence was forgotten, we moved on.
Deep in the culture of Europeans is understood both the seizure and the oppression that has been inflicted on Maori. Eventually Maori will too. Average Briton, is no longer a Briton pre Roman invasion; in the mix of Picks, there are Norman, Viking, Italian, etc, and it didn't stop.
You see there is no such thing as White race, it's a nonsense, as someone once pointed out to me, were actually have more colours than any other group, ranging from white, pink, med brown, Indian brown. And it's the same with Maori, they are becoming more coloured. Racism is just the nonsense boil idiots use to get special pleadings. Like some Christians who want to tell non Christians and nonagreeing Christians to obey govt edicts that are sourced solely from their specific readings…
It's a fact that however it was going to happen, land would have been subdivided to utilize the European farming methods. There were never enough Maori to convert all that land. Sure in some cases tribes were treated harsher, it's wrong but nothing Europeans hadn't done to each other, or Maori wouldn't have. Let's just consider the absurdity, that the Europeans turned round and left when asked, they weren't, as tribes realised the power they could get over each other and embraced muskets, etc.
So what is exactly the point of discussing race? To remind us all that racists come from all corners, talk nonsense and want redress for stuff that was going happen inevitably from the invaders technology, and had nothing to do with race, except of course the human one. Sort it out, fair deal, move on.
The reality is as we age as a population, as we grow closer both digitally and culturally, we will harvest a imbalances of inequality, and the ease to which racists can advantage their weaken egos will be expose to be a expense to us all and our future. Sure, if a young poor person start vulgarly ranting about how racist a stranger is, it's not the stranger whose being racist. Sure, it's sad how poor managers are, that they don't hire because of their weaken egos, but really shareholder power is not what it used to be, fix the class system it's far more of a problem.
I don't walk in your shoes, you dont want to, but I don't see how me trying helps you move on, just how we get locked in smelly reeking shoes that actually we all can easily find greviences to feed too. Talking about racism helps you be less racist,and me less, great. But actually the program last night just made racism more prominent. It's not my problem the Romans destroyed Druidism, or robbed my ancestors to their ties to the land, it's not my problem that my invader ancesters and my dispossessed ancestor did stuff to each other. And similarly for some mixed Maori European to demand redress, sure recent greviences that have merit, but fair dealing means we move on together. And so what if we embracesome Maori practices, we're they ever just Maori, weren't they always human,not restricted by race.
look I don't know, who cares, seek the positive in other's.
I find it funny you say you don't define people by race and then next minute go on to defining people by income and class. Have to be a tory!
It's also great having such a strong anti-racist as yourself on here. Telling other races to "get over it" and to for us all to "become one people". Have you considered a career in race relations? 🙂 You would last all of about 5 seconds!
This morning's news included examples of government agencies at arms length from the Ministry like the Transport Authority buying more expensive IT from Texas than from two smaller NZ companies which would have liked to had real opportunity to tender, and felt they could meet the requirements at a reasonable cost. (NZ losing out on VA in building our enterprise in the 21st century.)
Obese patients have to be held in Manukau hospital instead of going to a private partner for post-operative care. The lack of action by National on the food front, to effect a decline in unhealthy food has not helped, with more interest in supporting fast-food businesses, often overseas companies. And the private partners are not wishing to reallocate profit to the more expensive care of the obese, which are more numerous in Manukau than elsewhere, involving infrastructure changes, wider doors, stronger floors, stronger lifting machinery.
Looking at their own life journey and their Maori cultural background has been of great value to those facing Court for law breaking.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018703112/lawyer-calls-govt-to-fund-cultural-reports-for-offenders
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018703115/andrew-little-responds-to-call-for-govt-funded-cultural-reports
So many around, like unexploded bombs, ready to go off.
Perhaps it may be better to create a Ministry of Mitigation – they could do some work BEFORE disasters happen – cos they are going to happen.
Good thinking, I'll support that. Amazing how reluctant politicians are when it comes to shifting from ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Fence at the top isn't hard.
The mining industry is in the early stages of recognising old landfills as an excellent resource. The technologies are sufficiently developed to make proof of concept and pilot plants a viable proposition.
Early projects would need govt development funding and probably operational subsidies, but there are companies that would be interested in giving it a go.
What good ideas. A Ministry of Mitigation would have a clear direction that could not be argued with and result in a Minister being driven out of office as … whatever negative adjective thrown at him/her.
The Ministry would have its place to stand and be expected to act according to its given mission. Let's go for having one.
I wonder how they might mine without releasing greenhouse gases and toxic leachates.
That would be a good topic to start on!
Seeing the Ministry's job would be to examine and do research and produce results which would have to be published in full, a lot of the prevarication of the nostalgic wishful thinkers would be breached. And it would be done in-government-house not contracted out! And there would be no commercial sensitivity BS either.
That would be what I'd expect anyway.
I can't quite imagine how that works – do they just dig it up and drag what they need out of what they process. Hardly seems worth it. Is there something else they do – chucking it down a deep mine shaft could be a goer.
Yes something like that. There are such things as ore sorters that are already being used to separate out the metals and plastics. Then I'd imagine you'd go to a wet process of some sort to detox the heavy metals, then filter and convey the resulting damp output to a biological process of some kind.
Maybe convey it up vertically 50m or so out of the reach of sea level, then plant with reed beds or other species known to be good at absorbing any residual metals. There has been a lot of interesting research already done.
While perfect 100% elimination is probably not economically feasible, reducing the hazard by several orders of magnitude (a 99% reduction) should be doable. The economics would depend a lot on how much valuable metals and material can be recovered at the first step.
Melzer has recently transformed the debate around 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Julian Assange’s situation by formally finding that Assange is a victim of state-sponsored (and publicly perpetuated) psychological torture.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/07/08/guest-blog-suzie-dawson-not-in-my-name-academics-publicly-attacking-un-torture-rapporteur/
Suzie Dawson has tested the sincerity of Assange's attackers.
His state-sponsored persecution and torture have elicited elicited expressions of amusement and contempt from some "liberals" in New Zealand…..
It's not only wishy-washy "liberals" who are amused at Assange's plight. Our most infamous right wing fashionista and a brutal old cop have rarely found anything so funny as the thought of a political dissenter suffering….
Chris Trotter, that serious-as-fuck bullfrog and poseur, was driven to imitate Speedy Gonzales as he poured ridicule on the government-designated political target….
Morrissey – you have made this point dozens of times. I have realised after reading your notes as to their comments that these people just think that knowing the names of newsmakers and their current travails is a huge achievement. Chris Trotter is on there because to do a good job of understanding NZs present culture, he needs to mingle and listen to the current prattle. And sometimes it's a good change to have a prattle as a break from the dark fog that flows through our history to pool at our door.
Time for a kit-kat perhaps Morrissey. Do you remember the tv ad where the animal photographer was trying to entice the chimps out, but they only came out of the hide when he was looking the other way. It's no use keeping tabs on the Panel – it is candy floss for tired people, always the same. Keep on with it and you'll get as stale a mind as most listeners. You might find some political funkery from a different angle if you changed seats.
Chris Trotter is on there because to do a good job of understanding NZs present culture, he needs to mingle and listen to the current prattle.
He wasn't "listening to prattle", he was mocking the suffering of a political dissenter.
It's no use keeping tabs on the Panel – it is candy floss for tired people, always the same.
Fair point, buddy. I would go crazy if I sat around listening to that all day. I don't, however, listen to it very much at all. I made the grave error this morning of tuning into "Magic Talk" hosted by one Peter Williams. It was so goddamned horrible that I was compelled to dash down a hurried transcript. Keep your eyes peeled!
I see that I’ve already passed comment on his horror show, by the way….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/05/one-of-most-hapless-talk-radio-tragics.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/discussion-on-kiwiblog-about-peter.html
Morrissey I read you because you try to have something to say. I don't want to read your opinion about other talking heads. Blah blah let them go. Can you look stuff up for How to Get There and add something every Sunday that would be useful?
I share your opinion of these talking heads. I decided long ago to make a point of capturing as much of their chatter as I could. Sure it's ephemeral, and most of it is worthless in and of itself, but it's important to understand just how these vacuous people hold so much influence in our society.
Anyway, most of the time I don't analyze them, I just capture their repulsive conversations and re-present them to the public. I think that Chris "Speedy Gonzales" Trotter, Laughing Lisa Scott, Grouchy Graham Bell, Despicable Denise L'Estrange-Corbet, and all the rest of them do a fine job of hanging themselves. I don't think they should be allowed to escape scrutiny and judgement just because most people never heard, or have forgotten, their hateful performances.
There is the doomy saying Morrissey of ' watch out if you look too long into the abyss, you may find it looking back at you. '
Thanks for the warning, Shark. But I really don't spend much time listening to it. For instance, I never listen to the drones on Radio Sport now. Although I hope some people still engage with those chumps the way that THESE young troublemakers did!…
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/deaker-watch.html
heard of grumpy old man syndrome Moz
I enjoy your perspective Morrissey. Keep it up.
Thank you, Kevin.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/b54ca60562cd613dfc43bca55a15a3b4/tenor.gif?itemid=7298734
" It's no use keeping tabs on the Panel – it is candy floss for tired people, always the same. Keep on with it and you'll get as stale a mind as most listeners."
It is also helpful to keep reminding some people and possibly inform others as to some of the terrible views held by many of RNZ regular hosts and guests…it is also helpful to place the news and views provided by RNZ it's rightful context..so keep banging on Morrissey I say..job well done.
Irony alert:
Marsden Point Refining is proposing a very large solar power generator to run the plant there.
It would be 31 hectares, deliver 24 Megawatts, and potentially take our only oil refinery off the grid.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12247521
Without presuming New Zealand can do without an oil refinery for the imaginable future, and I sure ain't bagging them for trying, but what would it take to make an oil refinery sustainable?
Silly idea. The salt air would leave a film on the panels that would require constant cleaning. The salt air would very possibly corrode the panels. 31 hectares is a lot of land and already the refinery is close to the Port in one direction and close to the timber treatment in the other. And Winston wants to expand the port. And then there's a neat wee DOC reserve with part of the Te Araroa trail running through it. And then there's the absolute bestest overnight parking spot for when we're traveling from the FFN back to the Waikato.
Immigrant cleaners are cheap these days.
"
what would it take to make an oil refinery sustainable?
"
well there are algae that produce oil from sunlight and remove nitrates and nutrients from fresh water in the process.
one random link to get you sterted
https://petrowiki.org/Producing_crude_oil_from_algae
Solar panels. Tech from statoil (already in use) to take the CO2 released from the process rather than venting to the atmosphere. Use the oil products for applications where alternatives are not yet available – the medicines, high tech/high value end; where it's not just burned up for a trip to the dairy.
That'd be a good start.
And when the oil runs out or down, we have the solar panels still there being useful. Doesn't sound too bad a scheme, pretty good i would say.
Gordon Campbell of Werewolf and Scoop thinks that being aware of commercial reality and seizing an opportunity like Lord of the Rings and other productions has given us a standing that puts us in line for ongoing business for our creatives. This is important for us to take on board. The naive wittering and deep resentment that built up over this matter as unions didn't get an agreement to suit themselves and foolishly allied themselves with an Oz union that would have no friendship for our situation, has not led to a loss to the country and we can be grateful for that. Idealism needs to step forward first, and then cede some of its hopes to pragmatism, and then be of nice wit to see where advantage can be gained in doing a good, clever, honest job and getting leverage wherever is reasonable.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1907/S00024/gordon-campbell-on-the-usual-grumbling-over-screen-subsidies.htm
Ultimately, we seem to have won this production largely because of the mature film industry infrastructure that New Zealand has built on the back of those previously subsidized productions. For example: we now have the studio sound stages that Scotland currently lacks, highly skilled film crews, expert props-makers, costumers and set-builders, and can boast a world-leading post-production facility. Basically, New Zealand can offer the entire spectrum of services from initial shoots to post-production FX, and none of this would have been possible without the previous generation of tax breaks and production grants. As the World of Locations industry website points out, those prior productions also committed to substantial quotas of key local personnel, tourism campaigns and skills and talent development programmes for emerging local crew.
Well said
The onslaught against Pharmac is a bit disturbing. Garner for one echoes the claim that NZ is in the Third World in Cancer treatment. This is patently un true. Facts are better than rabid slurs. This what some in NZ hold up as a gold standard. The UK Cancer Drugs Fund.
A few years ago our Pharmac was the envy of many other countries.
Have a look at the graph in the excellent Media Watch program. NZ is at the base in green and is very close to Australian success rate.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018702689/cancer-campaign-coverage-puts-heat-on-pharmac
The problem is it’s a emotional plaything for whoever is in opposition to beat the government of the day around the head with Both National and labour have not been shy to do so, media then run with it or in some cases initiate for good press and opposition politicians more than happy to play ball.
Correct. For once.
What do they say about a clock KJT 😊
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Labour fears being accused of being profligate and of raising the net debt of an already indebted nation, but the Government's net debt is at the bottom of the OECD and the nation's net debt has fallen 20-30 percentage points of GDP in the last decade.
Robertson and Ardern argue we are so vulnerable in the event of another GFC or an earthquake that we have to keep our powder dry. But they're thinking as if they were in the offices of Helen Clark or Michael Cullen from 1999 to 2008, when New Zealand's economy and balance sheets were both actually and relatively vulnerable.
So says Bernard Hickey. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/01/657972/how-phil-twyford-lost-housing-and-kiwibuild-failed
1 July 2019 updated 7 July 2019
If we did something that raised our dollar a little, that would no doubt put up our international debt, but would also put up prices of imports which would also reduce our imports which would enable us to reduce our international debt (private), which would make it easier for the Govt to borrow for infrastructure which would increase employment and wages, which would then increase spending, and more would go on NZ goods with imports being dearer, and then we could bring our interest rate up a little which would bring superannuiants spending up somewhat and so would produce quantitative raising.
And this can be picked apart no doubt but I wonder if we want to keep on as we are going, because I feel that we are stuck and need to put a sack or board under the wheels for traction.
Kauri 350 year old and ringbarked in 2015 – cured by Maori with beeswax and curative leaf.
'It's ridiculous': Top kauri scientist over lack of protection for Titirangi's Awhiawhi 20 Jun, 2019 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12242227
Trying to protect important long-term national assets from the crazies only interested in their short-term asses, requires staunchness and now some support. The Government is powerless against progress; both the Orc-land City Council and central gummint.
.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/114028761/neighbours-who-opposed-felling-of-400yearold-titirangi-kauri-tree-ordered-to-pay-court-costs
Auckland neighbours who opposed felling of Titirangi kauri tree ordered to pay court costs 7 July 2019
Two Aucklanders who took a group of developers to court in an attempt to save a centuries-old kauri tree have been ordered to pay $30,000 in court fees….
Charlesworth said despite their disappointment in the judge's decision, she and Maehl acknowledged they had to pay and would be fundraising for the costs.
Ron Hoy Fong's company prosecuted by Commerce Commission for alleged price fixing 8 July 2019
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12247644
A company owned by a property investment guru who allegedly encouraged buyers to use fake names, work in packs to drive down prices and target desperate homeowners facing foreclosure is being prosecuted by the Commerce Commission…
In 2017 the Weekend Herald revealed a tutoring video by Fong was being supplied free to members of the Auckland Property Investors Association (APIA).
It encouraged investors to look for the "seven Ds" – targeting deceased estates, desperate homeowners facing foreclosure, developers on the brink of bankruptcy, divorcees and "dummies" who didn't know the value of their home.
(Do the family wanting to cut down the historic tree for their puny development belong to the Auckland Property Investors Ass,?)
and 4 July 2019 https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/04-07-2019/dude-wheres-my-kauri-the-pitched-battle-over-titirangi-trees/
Watercare recently lodged a resource management application in order to begin construction of a replacement water treatment plant in the heart of Titirangi, adding to the powderkeg of tension between locals and Council over the protection of kauri trees.
Submissions on New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Bill close at 5pm on Tuesday 16 July – make your submission here.
Maui is everything a race relation meeting? Are you always looking for the best help? Most people, seems to me, believe that racism occurs, and its a opportunity to dissauge, recondition, change minds. It isn't going to happen if racists like you see everyone else as racists, its a negative negative, perpetutaul cycle. We will, are even, one people, and we will just keep merging, and racists like you need to move on coz youre history. Sure there will be differences, like Hindus go to Temple, etc… ..must eat you up that.